Nearly 1 in 5 Battleground State Voters Blame Biden for End of Constitutional ‘Right’ to Abortion

Some voters in battleground states are confused about the origins of the current abortion landscape in the United States, despite President Joe Biden making abortion the centerpiece of his reelection campaign.

A New York Times/Philadelphia Inquirer/Siena College poll of voters in battleground states — including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin — found that nearly one in five registered voters (17 percent) think Biden is responsible for the end of the constitutional “right” to abortion. Fifty-six percent credit former President Donald Trump, and 13 percent say they do not know or refused to answer.

Notably, Trump nominated three Supreme Court justices who joined the Dobbs decision in June of 2022, which overturned the court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that had invented a constitutional “right” to abortion that lasted 50 years. The Dobbs decision sent the issue of abortion back to individual states and their elected representatives. The former president has touted his role in ending Roe, and has said he believes abortion laws should be left up to the states.

RELATED: Donald Trump Reveals Abortion Position, Says States Should Decide

“Many voters who held Mr. Biden responsible said they simply didn’t pay close attention to politics or government affairs. For some, the confusion came from the fact that the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision happened while Mr. Biden was president,” The Times reported of the poll results.

“Other voters said Mr. Biden hadn’t done enough to stop state abortion bans,” the report continues, noting that while Biden has enacted certain federal policies to promote the killing of the unborn, he does not have the authority to reverse state laws.

While other polling has found that one in four Democrats are single-issue voters on abortion, the new poll found that 12 percent of Democrats are confused about the abortion landscape and blame Biden for the end of Roe v. Wade. Six percent say they do not know or refused to answer, and 78 percent blame Trump.

“Abortion has been a mobilizing issue for Democrats in recent elections, and the confusion among a segment of voters presents both a challenge and an opportunity for Mr. Biden, who trailed Mr. Trump by six points in the survey overall,” the report states.

Many Republican respondents also blame Biden for the end of the constitutional “right” to abortion — 22 percent. Forty-two percent say it was Trump’s doing, while 18 percent are unsure or refused to answer.

Overall, battleground state voters say they trust Biden more than Trump to handle the issue of abortion, a trend widely seen across various polls. However, 6 percent of Democrats, “including many who want abortion to remain legal,” say they trust Trump more to handle the issue, the survey report notes.

The poll was conducted between April 28 and May 9 with 4,097 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is ±1.8 percentage points for all registered voters.